The final ingame time is 1:35:14.
Description:
  • Emulator: Dolphin 3.0-389
  • DualCore and Idle Skipping off
  • Skip Gamecube BIOS
  • DSP LLE Recompiler
TAS Objectives:
  • Aims for fastest time
  • Takes damage and misses bullets to save time by lowering enemy health and the game difficulty
  • Manipulates gratuitous amounts of hand grenades
Comments: A tool-assisted speedrun of Resident Evil 4 (Biohazard 4 in Japan) for the Nintendo Gamecube. Unlike the most common speedruns for this game (called load game, or new game+), this one does NOT load a save file to begin with all special weapons (Infinite Rocket Launcher, PRL, Chicago Typewriter, etc) and uses no memory card or saves. This means Leon begins with nothing other than his handgun, and his stylish leather jacket, and must collect weapons and money as the run progresses.
The Japanese version is almost identical to all other Gamecube versions of the game. The JPN and PAL versions are nearly identical, and have a speed trick used in Chapter 4-2, where Leon can blow up the boulder with a Rocket Launcher instead of the Dynamite. This trick cannot be done on the North American Gamecube version, but can be done on the XBOX360 and PS3 HD versions. The TMP glitch used in Chapter 3-2 is only possible on the Gamecube versions. The Japanese version was used due to it being a 60Hz version instead of using the emulator in PAL60 mode, and some visual effects such as the Ashley section. Fortunately, all cutscenes are in English and with Japanese subtitles.
Manipulating enemies to drop certain items is almost entirely a trial and error process. Using the Joystick, C-stick, D-pad, A, B, L, R, X (when Ashley is with you), or any combination thereof manipulates enemy AI and the items they drop. A combination of button presses 1 frame before the item is dropped could mean the difference between 9,900 pesetas or just 10 handgun ammo. Sometimes hours were spent loadstating to obtain only 1 hand grenade. An HD encode with annotations discussing common questions and gameplay strategies can be viewed here.
I started this run back in July of 2011 as an attempt to help other users with some strategies. Turns out I was extremely lucky when I began running on the Japanese version of the game, as I was able to obtain a 9,900 pesetas drop, and everything went great from then on. This was an on/off project for many months until I nearly gave up. After events explained here [dead link removed], I began working on the TAS again fulltime, and ended up with a very satisfied result. I couldn't have done it without all the help and critique from the fellow users on the 4 Resident Evil thread, as well as some pro speedrunners like Derek Taylor or Magnum66 who dominate the console scene for this game.

feos: Judging...
Ilari: Fixed movie time.
feos: It was an easy decision, but hard to provide. First of all, this movie can't be played back on 32-bit Dolphin builds. Lack of testing by other people during movie creation (and the overall mess with this young emulator) led to verifying sync only on 64-bit machines. I installed 64-bit Windows 7 and got all running, but then it synced only up to 20k frames.
But 2 trusted people other than the author confirmed full sync. One was RGamma who makes Dolphin encodes for publications (and ran in on Linux). Another was RachelB, who needs no introduction (Windows 7 x64). I can blame my computer specifications, it already happened that I get rather different behavior on modern games emulators than other people using them, and my computer is old (from 2009) and weak.
I'm accepting this movie to Moons. The author requested his own encode to be used, posted on his own YT channel. Well, TVC got a time limit just on time to make that option the only one available!


Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4037
This TAS is popular on nicovideo (over 80k views last time I checked) Link to video
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Active player (335)
Joined: 1/19/2010
Posts: 383
Location: Texas
Patashu wrote:
This TAS is popular on nicovideo (over 80k views last time I checked) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm21153918
Don't really appreciate how the uploader just downloaded the video straight from my youtube channel and put it up on nico.....but at least he/she translated my annotations for the Japanese audience.
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Desyncs for me right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frsBwbKQ79I#t=330s The checkpoint is never activated, he keeps running into the wall. No matter how I change config. EDIT: Though, it synced for 2 trusted people til the end - RGamma and RachelB. So even if the solution for me is not found, this submission is still valid and I want to accept it. Just want to try to fix my issue if possible.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Active player (335)
Joined: 1/19/2010
Posts: 383
Location: Texas
Anyone have any screenshot suggestions? RGamma suggested http://i.imgur.com/tStDes4.png , and I personally would like just the title screen displaying "Biohazard 4" as the site image, but I understand if people want to see gameplay instead.[/url]
Site Admin, Skilled player (1249)
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Location: Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg
I liked this one the most:
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15460
Location: 127.0.0.1
This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [2411] GC Resident Evil 4 by SoulCal in 1:35:29.67
Joined: 2/21/2008
Posts: 255
SoulCal wrote:
Patashu wrote:
This TAS is popular on nicovideo (over 80k views last time I checked) http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm21153918
Don't really appreciate how the uploader just downloaded the video straight from my youtube channel and put it up on nico.....but at least he/she translated my annotations for the Japanese audience.
I'm sure the feeling is mutual. PS: I'm working on some screenshots of upskirts and jiggle physics that I can overlay the subtitle "This is one of the reasons I chose the Japanese version".
"The guy was fatally injured and wants to be covered by God's tears (rain) before he dies. God is too busy to bother because it wastes frames." Frames 16:26
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2610)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6424
Location: The land down under.
We have a retroactive problem in keeping Dolphin TASes properly maintained and archived. So besides issues with actually trying to get this to sync today with the correct build, the author left out another bit information regarding sync which is that the memory card shouldn't be inserted... unfortunately it doesn't matter cause Leon doesn't reach the house in the appropriate time leading to the TAS to desync. The only two members that were able to sync it never provided their files, and we're left wondering on what to do, with trying to get this synced again on the version that the author used. There's also the specs of what the author and two members machines, but this is personally a theory I have that I'm thinking out loud about.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Emulator Coder, Judge, Experienced player (690)
Joined: 2/26/2020
Posts: 756
Location: California
Spikestuff wrote:
sync today with the correct build
Looking at it deeper this doesn't seem to be the "correct" build. In fact the correct build was likely some fork/branch implementing movie disc swapping (which this movie does), as movie disc swapping wasn't not introduced officially until 3.0-785, several hundred commits after the version this movie claims to be on (and even trying to play back the movie on that commit fails as a few commits before some sync settings are saved, and the disc name is placed in the spot those sync settings would be in). I'm not sure how this movie was exactly synced given this other than the other two people knew the exact build used (and maybe built it themselves).
Emulator Coder, Judge, Experienced player (690)
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Seems like the correct build is here? https://tasvideos.org/Forum/Topics/9026?CurrentPage=8&Highlight=337975#337975 Except the download link is 404'd and I'm not sure if the source is anywhere, so the build is probably lost to time? Unless the author still has it I guess.
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Posts: 756
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https://github.com/CasualPokePlayer/dolphin/releases/tag/3986S Uses the "official" 3.0-389 as a base. The movie doesn't actually sync right away on here (since it was using no longer available fork). It can be made to sync with a very simple modification, simply remove the first 5 inputs with a hex editor (bytes 0x100 - 0x127). That along with setting the needed settings (no memcard, no dual core, no idle skipping, dsp lle) will have the movie sync fully.
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CasualPokePlayer wrote:
It can be made to sync with a very simple modification, simply remove the first 5 inputs with a hex editor (bytes 0x100 - 0x127). That along with setting the needed settings (no memcard, no dual core, no idle skipping, dsp lle) will have the movie sync fully.
User movie #637920286863334159
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
AntyMew
It/Its
Encoder, Player (35)
Joined: 10/22/2014
Posts: 425
CasualPokePlayer wrote:
https://github.com/CasualPokePlayer/dolphin/releases/tag/3986S Uses the "official" 3.0-389 as a base. The movie doesn't actually sync right away on here (since it was using no longer available fork). It can be made to sync with a very simple modification, simply remove the first 5 inputs with a hex editor (bytes 0x100 - 0x127). That along with setting the needed settings (no memcard, no dual core, no idle skipping, dsp lle) will have the movie sync fully.
It's also worth noting that this version of dolphin does not record video properly in windowed mode, only fullscreen. So to make a proper 4K+ dump, you either need a 4K+ monitor, or a workaround solution. Personally on Windows, the workaround of using a virtual monitor via IDD sample driver worked for me. Install as per instructions in the github release, set the virtual monitor to 100% scale and at the resolution you want, set it to the main display in Windows display settings, then boot up dolphin and start the dump. You can view the virtual monitor via OBS or similar, so you aren't just flying blind.
Just a Mew! 〜 It/She ΘΔ 〜
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2610)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6424
Location: The land down under.
AntyMew wrote:
It's also worth noting that this version of dolphin does not record video properly in windowed mode, only fullscreen.
This is growing pains that lasted til after 4.0 or 4.5 as a note. Edit: And Early 5.0 growing pain.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Emulator Coder, Judge, Experienced player (690)
Joined: 2/26/2020
Posts: 756
Location: California
https://github.com/CasualPokePlayer/dolphin/releases/tag/3986S-AVSync New release, this release does not require a resync (the original publication can be used). To be clear, there isn't much of a difference between the this and the other one (with resync). The fact that 40 bytes were cut off for resyncing and that the second disc name occupied 40 bytes in the header made me realize that it's very likely the Dolphin used for this publication did not pad the header correctly, resulting in the header being 40 bytes larger than normal.